Hoop-rolling and guiding device



"Sept. 26, 1961 J. M. RICCOBONO ETAL I 3, HOOP-ROLLING AND GUIDING DEVICE Filed Oct. 10, 1958 FIG. 2. FIG. 1.

INVENTORS JOSEPH M. RICCOBONO BVINCENT SBIROLI ATTO NEY United States Patent 3,001,325 HOOP-ROLLING AND GUIDING DEVICE Joseph M. Riccobono, Brooklyn, and Vincent Sbiroli, Astoria, N.Y., assignors to Di-Rect-Aire Corp., Jackson Heights, N.Y.

Filed Oct. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 766,583 1 Claim. (Cl. 46-220) This invention relates to a hoop rolling and guiding device.

The art of rolling hoops appears to be limited to the use of a stick or ones hand placed on the top of the hoop or striking the hoop in order to cause it to roll or to maintain it in rolling motion. This is a very primitive and elementary method of accomplishing the desired result, but it requires considerable dexterity, which many children do not possess. Furthermore, while this procedure is adapted to propel a hoop, it does not adequately guide and control it.

The object of this invention is the provision of a hoop rolling and guiding device which may be used to start a hoop in rolling motion, maintain it in rolling motion, guide it while in rolling motion, control the velocity of its rolling motion, and finally slow it down or completely stop it, as desired.

Briefly stated, this device comprises a handle which may be held at one end and a hook or loop at the other end, said hook or loop being adapted to engage a portion of a hoop. In the use of this device a hoop would be held in vertical position, that is, with its central axis on a horizontal line, and the device herein described and claimed would be held in one hand, its hooked or looped end engaging a portion of the hoop. More specifically, the proper method of handling this device requires that it be held downwardly and against the back of the hoop to start the hoop rolling. The hook would engage the hoop and a shank, between the hook and the handle would steady the hoop to prevent it from falling over sidewardly. The hoop would then be thrust forwardly by a forward movement of said device. The device could then be placed in engagement with the top of the hoop to control its forward movement, steer it or slow it down. To stop the hoop, the device would be hooked under the top of the hoop and caught. Since the hooked or looped end of the device and its shank engage the sides of the hoop, it may very easily be used in guiding the hoop to keep it on a straight path or to steer it to either side, as desired.

In addition to the foregoing, this device may be used to carry a hoop from place to place or to support it in hanging fashion from a suitable supporting element, such as a hook driven into a closet wall.

This device may be made of a single length of wire or in any other manner and of any suitable material, depending on individual design preferences and production requirements. It constitutes a most inexpensive toy, which provides children with great enjoyment.

An important feature of the invention is the shape and position of the handle. It is tapered to adapt to childrens hands of various sizes. It is also looped so that it may be grasped with the fingers projecting into it. And finally, it is twisted relative to the hook, about the 1ongitudinal axis of the shank, to provide for comfortable holding when the device is in downward position, engaging the back of the hoop preparatory to starting it.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the present hoop rolling device in operative engagement with a hoop.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of said hoop rolling device.

FIG. 3 is a view of the hook-shaped end of the device, looking in the direction of arrows 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2, also showing the hook-shaped end.

The hoop rolling device 10 herein described and claimed comprises a handle 12, a shank 14, and a hook or loop shaped operative end 16. In the preferred form of this invention the device is made of a single length of steel wire, approximately one-eighth of aninch in diameter, but this is of course purely illustrative.

The handle 12 is simply one end of the wire bent over upon itself to form an elongated, closed loop. The entire loop maybe held in the hand, or the fingers of the hand may be inserted through said loop. The shank 14 is simply a substantially straight length of said wire, and it is of course, in this preferred form, continuous with the handle. At the opposite end of said shank, namely, the operative end, is the hook or loop 16, this being also formed of the same wire and being continuous with the shank.

It will be noted that the hook or loop 16 occupies a plane which is transverse the longitudinal axis of the shank. However, also in the preferred form of this invention, said longitudinal axis is not quite normal to said hook plane, but instead said plane is inclined at an angle of somewhat less than 90 degrees relative to said longitudinal axis. An angle of approximately or degrees between the plane of the hook and the longitudinal axis of the shank would be preferred, but, once again, it must be pointed out that this is purely illustrative, and other angles, including a degree angle, would be encompassed within the scope of this invention.

Details of this device, and particularly its hook-shaped end, may be given as follows: In the preferred form of this invention the hook is formed in the general shape of an inverted U (as viewed in FIG. 1), wherein a yoke 20 is provided and a pair of depending legs 22 and 24, respectively, disposed in generally spaced parallel relation to each other in a common plane, the space between said legs being adequate to freely accommodate a hoop. A diagonal stem 26 joins leg 24 to shank 14. This diagonal stem is disposed at an angle of approximately 40 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the shank, and it serves to offset the hook somewhat from said shank, that is, elevate it above the shank, as viewed in FIG. 1. The opposite leg 22 is provided with a short extension piece 28 which substantially parallels diagonal stem 26 and at its end said extension piece is provided with an outwardly curved finger 30. Since finger 30 is bent. in outward direction from diagonal stem 26, it provides a somewhat flared opening for the hoop in the space between the legs of the U-shaped element 20, 22, 24.

The foregoing is illustrative of a preferred form of this invention, and it will be understood that this form may be modified and other forms may be provided, within the broad spirit of the invention and the broad scope of the claim.

We claim:

A hoop rolling device of the character described, said device being made of a single length of round wire and comprising an elongated wire shank, the upper end of said wire shank being bent over upon itself to form a handle, the lower end of said wire shank being bent outwardly and downwardly therefrom at an angle of approximately 40 relative to the longitudinal axis of said wire shank and a U-shaped element projecting laterally and upwardly from said bent end portion, the legs of said U-shaped element being parallel and disposed in a common plane which is situated at an angle of less than 90 relative to said longitudinal axis of the wire shank, each of said legs comprising a single straight length of wire, one of said legs of the U-shaped element being eontinuouswith said lower bent end portion, the other leg of said U-shaped element having an extended portion projecting laterally and upwardly therefrom in acommon plane with said lower bent end portion of the wire shank,,s aid extension portion having an end piece which is bent laterally out of said last mentioned plane and in a direction away from said lower bent end portion of the wire shank, whereby said U-shaped element is adapted to receive and guide a hoop between its legs, each of said legs being adapted to contact the hoop along only a single narrow bearing line, the lower bent end portion of the wire shank being adapted to bear against ,4 the side of said hoop to steady it, said extended portion being also adapted to bear against and steady the hoop, said laterally bent end piece being pointed outwardly to prevent digging into said hoop.

7 Stuckel Oct. 24, 1916 1,574,255 Myslinski l. Feb; 23, 1926 2,251,599

Peterson Aug. 5, 1941 

